A royal wedding may be just what Britain needs

Ravenhill/A. Briton – please have the decency to read a post before commenting – I said I was a Brit and a tax-payer and I clearly don’t live off the state so apparently these three facts make me a moron/monarchist. I am not a monarchist, I don’t own a union flag ( or a St Georges Cross) , have never sung the national anthem and have never seen the Queen or any other royals for that matter. I am however in favour of a lavish wedding simply because ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’. I’ve heard that my sister-in law is moaning about the wedding already - she’s never once applied for a job since leaving school in 1988 and she doesn’t think it right that money be spent on a royal wedding when the social security cutbacks mean she’s facing the horrific prospect of maybe having to work for the first time in her life or have her benefit cut ! ( I don’t know the precise details of how social security works in US but I’m sure that it’s pretty near impossible to get 22 years worth of free-housing, free-healthcare and a social security payment every week without making any attempt to look for a job). My sour-faced neighbour was grumpier than usual; his family have been here five generations but his party piece is the Fields of Athen Rye ‘nuff said – so it’s all working out very nicely. GSTQ ha ha !!

Let them have their moment.

As for those groaning about the foolishness of Royalty in our modern age, with the sorry state of the economy in Great Britain, I would remind you of our own unenlightened aristocracy of moneyed, overspending "elites" who are so worried that they might have to pay a little income tax. Conservatives to a man (or woman, they play while our common inheritance goes down the tube. Fiddlers one and all, like Nero and his Empire.

@RAMONRUS - It's funny that you should mention that, because your little outburst corroborates my experience of monarchists being complete and utter morons.

Yours faithfully,
A. Briton.

The Washington Post surpasses it's
brilliance in world punditry.

This is soooo important. Really. And there's nothing else going on.

I am British republican living in Britain. I'm with Aung San Suu Kyi the recently released prisoner of conscience in Burma who says that democracy is when the people control the government. That is why I am a republican, and the impending marriage of these two young people is going to be cynically used by our government to try to bolster a corrupt system of government, where only one half of the legislature is elected, the people are not sovereign, and the head of state is constitutionally pointless, being, as she is, in the Prime Minister's pocket. We could do a lot better if only our elective dictatorship would allow us and the monarchy wasn't a millstone around the neck of reform.

"A royal wedding is a unifying event writ large, a celebration that can bring people together and gives them, at least momentarily, a happy diversion."

How fantastically patronising and ill-informed.

"Even the most hardened of critics would be hard pressed to express scorn over two young people deciding to tie the knot."

True. But even a halfhearted, lazy critic such as myself could point out the horrible hypocrisy of burning public funds on what should be a private occasion at a time when thousands are losing their jobs under a policy formulated by aristocrats who claim "we're in this together".

This is unbelievable.
What is such a big deal about this wedding? The press and the media are spending too much energy on the subject.
Very little, if any of it will matter to us. It is a big event for the Queen and the rest of the immediate family, no doubt.

Enough already.
Speculating when will they be having kids and so on is damn right ridiculous.

Sarah Palin's super dysfunctional family vs. Queen Elizabeth's ultra-dysfunctional family? Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Really, hmmmmmmmmm.

Talk about juxtaposing trashtalking super ignorance (The Palins) with opportunistic freeloading (The Tudors). Two nasty women (Sarah and Queen Elizabeth) have neutered two unfortunate men (Todd Palin and Prince Charles) & reduced them to SACRED WAITERS.

Todd Palin is a sacred waiter:
He is waiting for a devine intervention that will transport his ignorant half-Gov wife into the U.S. White House.

Prince Charles is a waiter:
He only job -for the past two decades- is waiting for a his mother to die.

"On the grandest of scales, a royal wedding is a unifying event writ large, a celebration that can bring people together and gives them, at least momentarily, a happy diversion."

My god, are you THAT BLOODY STUPID? "Let's throw the Brits a few crumbs and have them wave the flag as they rejoice at Richie Rich's wedding. This'll keep the masses happy for at least a few hours or days. Then they can just go back to the pubs for their next pint of happiness".

How pathetic.

I am amazed at the amount of time the American media wastes on following the British Royalties, who are parasites and a disgrace in a twenty first century society. We got rid of Royalties long time ago. Still, the press thinks these so-called royal baboons are newsworthy. This is a disgrace.
This royal flush should go down the commode.

I am amazed at the amount of time the American media wastes on following the British Royalties, who are parasites and a disgrace in a twenty first century society. We got rid of Royalties long time ago. Still, the press thinks these so-called royal baboons are newsworthy. This is a disgrace.
This royal flush should go down the commode.

Congrats to the Prince, good PR. Now UK needs to shed its image as the Islamic Kingdom of Great Briton and restore the original name of Londonstan.

Among unfortunate activities while a nation is in trouble, you might have added obama's golfing during the BP disaster, and his family's high-dollar vacations at taxpayer expense.

I find it interesting that all the anti-monarchists I've come across are either long-term unemployed ( i.e. never ever attempted to get a job ), work for the state ( cushy academic posts or government jobs - of course , not so cushy any more ha ha ! ) socialists ( grumpiest people on the planet ) or people that enjoy the freedom of living in Britain but despise it's values and are only interested in taking advantage of free housing, free healthcare, free education and a bountiful social security cheques.
So as a real born and bred Brit that works for a living and pays taxes I'm all for a lavish wedding if for no other reason than it upsets the hordes of aforementioned parasitical types.

William came across as quite the dimmest royal thingy since George VI and there was just a suggestion of Kate being cast as a 21st century Elisabeth of Glamis. However they genuinely seemed to be "mates" in that peculiar way young British lovers so often are - which no one could possibly have said about his parents. For unlike that slightly dorky teenager, Diana Spencer, Kate is a cool and well-groomed woman whose Jewish lineage shows through her dark good looks. Yet amid all the rejoicing there was a flicker of concern and a national awareness that this beautiful girl was taking on the weirdest clan this side of the Addams Family.

a charming gentleman, welcome to China you couple

Jena you have some interesting opinions and are kinda hot. Are you single?

They need to be happy and I wish them all the best, but REALLY. To say that a lavish wedding show is just what the UK needs is irrational in my opinion.

This is a column about "leadership" and you are asserting that Britain "needs" another lavish wedding of useless royals - in the middle of a recession - because it will distract people from reality?

Are you completely out of your mind? Or is this what passes for leadership in your eyes? Absolutely disgusting.

why is Prince Will the future king and not Prince Charles?

The UK needs Prince William's main squeeze to start popping out babies.
That is what the UK needs.

Posted by: oracle2world | November 16, 2010 6:26 PM

Bill, let's just hope you didn't contribute this bit of insight from your taxpayer-financed computer.

Kate is a beautiful girl, and William seems to be a decent guy.

Having said that...

What Britain needs is to abolish the Monarchy. Send all those useless people to find jobs, like anybody else.

You have to be kidding. No family has a better documented history of estranged relationships, marital cheating, and illegitimate children than the British royal family. With sort of history, the family should be banned from ever entering a marriage contract with anyone on the grounds it is absolutely certain to be fraudulent or defrauded. There is a slight a break from the past when royals intermarried, and Middleton is clearly a commoner. But royals have always dallied with scullery maids and entertainers from the lower classes, so this is really nothing new. This is all a fraud, designed to perpetuate a monarchical institution which is dying. Better, in my opinion, to bring the block out from the Tower of London, and put these people out of their misery.

The UK needs Prince William's main squeeze to start popping out babies.

That is what the UK needs.